I read...(drumroll please)......a BOOK! Yes, you read that correctly and no, I am not crazy (or not any more so than usual ;) ).
Yesterday, I decided to take the plunge and try to read a book. Since the accident, I have been unable to read without having a splitting headache on the right side of my head. I have also not been able to comprehend anything I have read. The most I have been able to read before having the pain occur was 4 pages...that is, until yesterday.
I took some headache medicine, put my heat wrap around my neck and settled in with the book (by my favorite author, J. Picoult). I bought it shortly before the accident and it has been taunting me for 4 months to read it.
I read....(wait for it)............ FORTY-NINE pages before the headache happened! You read that correctly...49...4-9...which is 12 times more than I have been able to read in months! AND I comprehended what I read instead of having to re-read the same page multiple times.
It was like finding water when you are parched with thirst....or finding money in a coat pocket that you forgot was there....or seeing an old friend after months apart....you get the idea. It was FANTASTIC!
Now, granted, it was an interesting and easy read for me so I am still not quite sure that I could read and comprehend that many pages of something academic. But it is DEFINITELY a HUGE milestone for me! And today, I FINISHED the book! (385 pages, baby!)
I have decided that my rice heat wrap is an essential part of my life now. So much so, that I bought some fabric last week so that I can make some to take to work with me when I go back next month. The fabric I chose has puzzle pieces on it. I thought that was fitting as I put the pieces of my life back together...and figure out which ones will still be missing.
In other news, I go to the neuro tomorrow. I haven't been in a month so we shall see how together my body is. I have not been feeling all that great the past week or so, but I have been dealing with it because in real life you sometimes just have to deal. Plus, I need to know how I am feeling without the appts because once work starts up again I won't be able to go every week (even monthly will be a stretch). Which is one of many reasons that I am still hoping to make a change in the next year to work closer to home/doctors ..but that is a subject for another day!
"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." ~Charles W. Eliot
